Overview
In this collection of ten essays, Amos Oz shares his rich and rewarding experience as both writer and teacher. As he analyzes the opening sections of novels and short stories by such writers as Agnon, Gogol, Kafka, Chekhov, García Márquez, and Raymond Carver, Oz instructs, challenges, and guides. He writes about the notion of "beginnings," what the beginning of a novel or short story might "mean" to the author and how important it is. And best of all-he entertains. He highlights opening paragraphs in which authors make promises they may or may not deliver later in the work, or deliver in unexpected ways, or they may deliver more than they have promised. It is a game that miraculously and playfully engages both writer and reader. The Story Begins is a resourceful, accessible, and friendly companion for all students of literature and writing and for all book lovers.
Synopsis
Illuminating essays on the beginnings-the opening pages-of some of literature's nineteenth- and twentieth-century masterpieces
Publishers Weekly
Examining the trouble the blank page presents to a writer--"beginning to tell a story is like making a pass at a stranger in a restaurant"--Israeli novelist Oz (Panther in the Basement) considers the methods authors use to draw readers into the "opening contracts" of a narrative. One oddity of this thin collection of essays, derived from talks at high schools and colleges, is that Oz has read each text in a Hebrew translation (except for a few Israeli writers who wrote in Hebrew to begin with), whether by Chekhov or Gogol, Theodor Fontane or Marquez, which presumably affects at least nuances, especially given that Oz focuses on such small portions of the texts. Oz's interest in discovering what the reader must accept to become entrapped in the tale is especially illuminating of Chekhov's "Rothschild's Fiddle" and Elsa Morante's History: A Novel. In other analyses--for instance, a Raymond Carver story or a Franz Kafka fantasy--extensive quotations only pad elaborations of the obvious. This short, if feisty and often amusing, book is ultimately sketchy, suggesting a longer study abandoned early in the going. It certainly would have been more fruitful if Oz had spent as much time contemplating middles and endings as he does fretting about beginnings.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Examining the trouble the blank page presents to a writer--"beginning to tell a story is like making a pass at a stranger in a restaurant"--Israeli novelist Oz Panther in the Basement considers the methods authors use to draw readers into the "opening contracts" of a narrative. One oddity of this thin collection of essays, derived from talks at high schools and colleges, is that Oz has read each text in a Hebrew translation except for a few Israeli writers who wrote in Hebrew to begin with, whether by Chekhov or Gogol, Theodor Fontane or Marquez, which presumably affects at least nuances, especially given that Oz focuses on such small portions of the texts. Oz's interest in discovering what the reader must accept to become entrapped in the tale is especially illuminating of Chekhov's "Rothschild's Fiddle" and Elsa Morante's History: A Novel. In other analyses--for instance, a Raymond Carver story or a Franz Kafka fantasy--extensive quotations only pad elaborations of the obvious. This short, if feisty and often amusing, book is ultimately sketchy, suggesting a longer study abandoned early in the going. It certainly would have been more fruitful if Oz had spent as much time contemplating middles and endings as he does fretting about beginnings.Library Journal
Oz, one of Israel's finest writers Panther in the Basement, has written a short guide to reading. Using the beginnings of various works, he explains how to intrepret text. He is especially interesting when discussing the Hebrew writers S.Y. Agnon, Yizhar, and Aharon Shabtai. In thinking about other writers, Oz gives insight into his own methods and style, explaining that the truthfulness and honesty of the narrator's voice is an important element in thinking about the work. Oz also explains how important it is to relate beginnings to the whole text. Besides the Hebrew authors, he considers Fontaine, Gogol, Kafka, Chekhov, Morante, Garcia Marquez, and Carver. A good job; buy for literature collections.--Gene Shaw, New York P.L.Laurie Alderstein
Oz's readings uncover a story's themes within its beginning....Although he raises crucial questions, Oz recognizes that many of the answers lie beyond his grasp; rather than get mired, he lightens his tone and nimbly moves on...— The New York Times Book Review